Archive for April, 2008

Personality not Included (but helpful!)

I love participating online. Blogs provide lots of opportunities to share thoughts & discuss the latest topics & trends. Rohit Bhargava gave us a huge opportunity as he launched his book, Personality not Included

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Almost 60 bloggers each submitted 5 interview questions. I was quite appreciative of having my questions in the top 12 chosen. Then it went to vote. The five with the most votes would receive an autographed copy of Rohit’s book and the top vote getter would receive a $100 gift certificate.

Jonny Goldstein & I got to know each other on Twitter & agreed to blog about our campaign techniques after the fact. Jonny deserved to win (how could I compete with a face like this?!

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It was an exciting race. I was in the lead for quite awhile. I probably made Jonny nervous & pushed him to that extreme. :)

My votes came from my personal network & I called upon the digital scrapbooking community. Those ladies are a lot of fun! They totally got into the spirit of things.

Thank you Rohit for such a creative book launch! I can’t wait to read your book! I’ve been recommending it for quite awhile.


Community Manager Salary & Where to Search

This topic is one of the most popular searches that hits my blog. And it’s a popular subject on the Facebook Community Manager group. I have more definitive numbers now.

As I see more postings the the annual salary is increasing. The average is around $70 k per year. You can see our discussion at the Facebook Group. And I also made a thread there listing places to look if you’re seeking a Community Manager position.

Here’s an example which is Forrester’s posting: $90 – 110

Location: Cambridge

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. For more than 24 years, Forrester has been making leaders successful every day through its proprietary research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.

DESCRIPTION

Forrester Online Community Manager
Cambridge, Mass. *(must be onsite M-F)
Salary Range: 90-110K, commensurate w/experience

***PLEASE APPLY DIRECTLY AT http://forrester.hodesiq.com/careers/job_detail.asp?JobID=1171534&user_id=

At Forrester Research, we believe a direct conversation between customers and employees is essential to helping our customers make the right decisions in their jobs. We are looking for someone who is passionate about helping customers on a daily basis and who can energize and breathe life into a gathering of minds.

The Forrester Online Community Manager’s mission is to develop a strategy and plan to launch, grow, and maintain customer communities at Forrester. As a passionate customer advocate, you are responsible for representing the best interests of the community. In this hybrid role, you are part support, coordinator, facilitator, yet always remaining customer-focused. You lead, guide, and moderate discussion topics between members and employees, as well as collect and represent the needs from the community. You will align the business and operational needs of the community programs and integrate it with various facets of the business.

Responsibilities:
* Develop strategy for the launch and growth of our customer communities
* Monitor internal and external Web sites and facilitate discussions
* Engage with the community through a series of online and offline events
* Provide real-time alerts and monthly reports to key internal stakeholders
* Coordinate, publish, and follow up on Forrester content as it serves the needs of our customers
* Identify and develop relationships with research analysts and key internal content developers
* Evangelize and train internal clients on the value of the online community, including research, client group marketing teams, and IT
* Prioritize incoming member requests and redirect to internal clients as needed

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Requirements:
* Bachelor’s degree and experience in managing similar online business communities; experience in marketing preferred
* Well-versed in online communications and social media tools including forums, blogs, podcasts, wikis and social networks
* Strong sense of urgency and ability to respond quickly and timely
* Savvy online communication skills — presenting a welcoming and professional voice yet, able to manage online detractors in a discreet and tactful way
* Ability to multitask in several communities
* Proficiency in basic systems administration such as permissions, content publishing, and other “back-end” tools
* Good social and interpersonal skills that translate well into an online persona

CLOSING

Forrester Research is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer; M/F/D/V are especially encouraged to apply.


Should you have a corporate presence on Twitter?

Listening is an integral part of monitoring the conversations. As a community manager I’m not only actively listening but also noticing how other companies are listening & participating. It’s exciting to to see more corporations using Twitter! How do I know that they are? Well, upon mention of a product or company within minutes the brand or a representative is following me.

As a customer this means that I have direct contact with the company. It’s very powerful! And the personal touch means a lot to me.

Who are actively using Twitter?

  • @MarketingProfs,@BulldogSolut (Bulldog marketing), @evernote
  • people representing indeed.com, radian6 and many more!

The other part of this is monitoring what people are saying on Twitter about your brand. I use tweetscan.com in the same way that I have GoogleAlerts set up: a daily report on @cbenson, @cbensen, acdsee and ‘community manager’

@jowyang recently listed a number of helpful Twitter app’s.

And if you’re wondering what Twitter is – Lee LeFever of CommonCraft has a video on it:

If you’re not on Twitter yet, sign up & follow me @cbensen

Connect with me on Facebook (link under my photo on left – works for Twitter too!) & I’ll be glad to help you with Twitter.

*update* 2 more corporations found me today: @HRBlock & @carnivalcruises

And I shouldn’t have forgotten my friends at @batchblue & also @perkettpr

*update* here’s an excellent article on why Companies Should Use Twitter


Signs of Spring

Spring is always amazing to me. It’s such a huge transitional time from permafrost to new growth. On Thursday we went over 50 degrees (first time since October or so). I ate lunch on the porch. It was fun watching the cats catch flies (and even listening to the sound of the flies wasn’t unpleasant). They go into some form of hibernation thru the winter).

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I have some brave tulips coming up but they’ll probably be snowed on before they bloom.

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There’s still lots of snow in the woods.

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But in the open areas the water is running.

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This weekend I’m at a resort with my sister & the girls for a scrapbooking retreat. I’m trying to be in vacation mode (as I blog :) ).


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